In Mississippi, Small-town Musician Keeps Blues Alive

 

The town of Bentonia, in the southern state of Mississippi, has fewer than 500 people. But it is known as the birthplace of a special style of blues¹ music. One musician is doing what he can to keep the music and storytelling tradition alive.

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes is 73 years old. He is the last remaining Bentonia blues musician. He was just nominated² for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. The album is called Cypress³ Grove⁴.

Holmes hopes Cypress Grove will help save the Bentonia blues long after he is gone.

The world has changed around Holmes and his Blue Front Café, the country's oldest surviving juke joint⁵. Across the South, these spaces were historically owned and visited by African Americans. But many juke joints⁶ have closed as owners have passed away. Blues experts believe Holmes is the only American operating a juke joint passed down by his parents.

The Grammy Awards take place this year on March 14. Holmes plans to watch the ceremony from the Blue Front Café. He cannot go to the event in person because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, he will be surrounded by musicians from across Mississippi who want to perform with him.

"I'll be here in this hole in the wall every day, for as long as I can, so that people don't forget," Holmes said. "We're trying to make sure it doesn't die."

The early days

Holmes' parents opened Blue Front in 1948, when Holmes was just a baby. It was the first Black-owned business in Bentonia. At the time, the town was mainly a community of Black farmers. Holmes' parents, Carey and Mary, were sharecroppers.

Mary ran the Blue Front during the day while Holmes worked with his father in the fields. By the time he was nine, Holmes was operating farming equipment by himself.

The Holmes' business was a community gathering⁷ place. People came to have their clothing pressed, get a haircut, or buy salt, pepper and other food products. And they came for the blues. Musicians stood in line outside, waiting to perform there.

During cotton-picking season, the Blue Front was open 24 hours a day to serve farmworkers. They came in to eat Mary's famous buffalo⁸ fish. On weekends, people stayed all night drinking, dancing and playing music.

The town was never home to more than 600 people, but its location on the Illinois Central Railway brought visitors. Later, the only roadway between the southern cities of Memphis and Jackson passed through Bentonia. That made the town more popular.

Historians⁹ who traveled through Mississippi to document blues musicians discovered Bentonia's style. Its use of minor¹⁰ key musical notes gave it a sound unlike the better-known blues styles.

Growing up, Holmes learned¹¹ music from his neighbor, Henry Stuckey. Stuckey is known as "the father of the Bentonia blues." He was an aging World War I veteran¹² and played music for Holmes and his 13 brothers and sisters.

The Bentonia style is passed from one musician to the next; it cannot be learned through written music.

"The old-timers I learned from couldn't read, and they couldn't read sheet music," said Holmes, who also does not read music.

Dan Auerbach produced Holmes' album Cypress Grove. He is also a member of the band The Black Keys. He said the beauty of Holmes' music is the improvisation¹³.

"Those songs, they're like a living organism¹⁴, almost. They're changing daily," he said. "You can feel the realness and the immediacy of the music...and that's what makes it so special."

The present time

Today, a four-lane highway moves traffic away from Bentonia. Many businesses have closed down. Buildings have been torn down. More than 25 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

The train passes through town every day but it does not stop.

Holmes never imagined leaving Bentonia. He lives on the same farm where he was raised, about a kilometer and a half from the Blue Front Café.

He has become Bentonia's biggest draw. Visitors come from all over the world to see him. They want to hear the music and learn the tradition.

Before the pandemic, Mississippi musicians performed at the Blue Front every other Friday, sometimes more. They played different blues styles.

Holmes holds Bentonia Blues workshops. And every day that he is at the Blue Front, he is willing to teach anyone who walks in.

Some fans are surprised that he is so easy to reach, said Robert Connely Farr. The Mississippi native, who now lives in Canada, has been visiting Holmes for guitar lessons for many years.

Farr said, "I think it's important to Jimmy," that this place is open and that it always has music and life in it.

Holmes has performed in Europe, South America and across the U.S. He opened for The Black Keys in Washington, D.C. in 2019. But he always comes back home.

Holmes said that no young people in Bentonia want to learn the Bentonia style. They say it is too complex. They do not realize how every style of American music has roots in the blues, he said.

But he keeps extra guitars around the Blue Front, just in case someone wants to play.

"It will survive somehow," Holmes said as he sat in his empty juke joint. "I learned enough that I was able to carry it on, and probably, once I'm gone, somebody will be sitting around here playing, someone who picked up the things that I was doing. I have to hope. I have to hope."

Words in This Story

style – n. a particular way in which something is done, created or performed

juke joint – n. a small inexpensive place for eating, drinking and dancing to the music of a jukebox or live band

hole in the wall – n. a small, dingy¹⁵ place, especially a bar or restaurant

pick – v. to remove (a fruit, flower, etc.) from a plant especially by using your hand

key – n. a system of musical tones¹⁶ based on a scale beginning on the note for which the system is named

location – n. a place or position

improvisation – n. the act of impromptu¹⁷ speaking or performance

draw – n. someone or something that causes a lot of people to come to a place

guitar – n. a stringed musical instrument

1 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

2 nominated   

adj.被提名的，被任命的 动词nominate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She has been nominated for the presidency. 她已经获得了董事长职位的提名。
• The movie was nominated for an Oscar. 这部电影获奥斯卡金像奖提名。

3 cypress   

n.柏树

参考例句：

• The towering pine and cypress trees defy frost and snow.松柏参天傲霜雪。
• The pine and the cypress remain green all the year round.苍松翠柏，常绿不凋。

4 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

8 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

9 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。

10 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

11 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

12 veteran   

n.老兵；经验丰富的人，老手

参考例句：

• My grandfather is a veteran of the Second World War.我祖父是二战时的老兵。
• We often asked the veteran workers for advice.我们常常向老工人求教。

13 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

14 organism   

n.生物，有机体；(如生物的)机体、有机组织

参考例句：

• The economy is not a mechanical device but a living organism.经济不是一套机械装置,而是活的有机体。
• Selection will root out such organism.自然选择将把这些物种消灭掉。

15 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

16 tones   

音( tone的名词复数 )； 色调； 腔调； 全音 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• his clipped military tones 他那短促的军人音调
• His name was always mentioned in almost reverential tones. 人们每次提起他的名字，语调中几乎总是充满了敬意。

17 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。